Megyn Kelly Helps Legitimize Discredited Koch Brothers’ ObamaCare Ad

Even Megyn Kelly had to acknowledge last night that there are credibility problems with the ObamaCare-victim ad paid for by the Koch-funded Americans for Prosperity. But that didn’t stop Kelly from reaching into her arsenal of disingenuousness to help use the victim, leukemia patient Julie Boonstra, as a weapon against President Obama and ObamaCare.

The ad, which targets Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Gary Peters, was given two Pinocchios by Washington Post’s fact checker, Glenn Kessler. He explained how the ad misleadingly implies Boonstra’s doctor is no longer covered under her new plan and why the costs under her new plan are about the same.

Kessler also noted that Boonstra has not just been featured in the AFP ad, she was also “invited by her local member of Congress to attend the State of the Union address and participated in a Republican National Committee news conference that highlighted problems with Obamacare’s stumbling launch.”

But instead of doing any independent investigating or even asking a Republican or Americans For Prosperity spokesperson to defend their ObamaScare, The Kelly File presented the issue as a he said/she said.

Kelly introduced the segment by saying:

A powerful new political ad being challenged by the fact-checkers. It tells the story of a Michigan mother fighting leukemia. She lost the health insurance she liked because of ObamaCare. And now she says the new plan is unaffordable.

Kelly then played a clip of Boonstra saying:

Then I received a letter. My insurance was canceled because of Obamacare. Now, the out-of-pocket costs are so high, it’s unaffordable. If I do not receive my medication, I will die. I believed the president. I believed I could keep my health insurance plan. I feel lied to. It’s heartbreaking for me.

First up, Democrat Robert Zimmerman.

Kelly described Kessler’s Pinocchios in the nicest-to-AFP way. “(S)uggesting that it’s somewhat misleading – they don’t say it’s outright false …because they think Julie’s costs will wind up being about the same.” But Kelly’s first question was, “Is that ad effective?”

Zimmerman got straight to the point. He said the issue was not about Boonstra but an “amateurish fraud.” He explained what was deceptive about the ad but also put it in larger context:

While the Koch organization’s running an ad that is misleading in talking about Mrs. Boonstra’s health insurance, they’re organizing campaigns around the country to block other people from getting health insurance who have conditions like Mrs. Boonstra. …They’re blocking expanding Medicaid coverage for citizens around the country through lobbying and advertising campaigns. That’s critical. That blocks working and indigent people from getting health care.

Oops, time was up for Zimmerman.

Throughout this segment, Kelly seemed to have appointed herself counsel for the AFP. First, she aggressively challenged Zimmerman. Then, she gently questioned Boonstra.

When Boonstra came on, a banner on the screen helped boost her anti-ObamaCare cred: JULIE BOONSTRA: INSURANCE CANCELLED AND OBAMACARE PLAN “UNAFORDABLE.”

Now, Kelly plastered her respectful-listening expression on her face.

Kelly presented Zimmerman in an unflattering light right away: “Let me ask you to respond to what you heard Robert saying about, (sneering) ‘Hey, you have nothing to worry about because your out-of-pocket costs are now capped at about $6,300 a year.’”

That suggested Zimmerman had treated Boonstra’s situation lightly and that was definitely not the case.

Boonstra insisted her new plan is “unaffordable.” Even though she was paying the same amount under her previous plan. “When I had a health care plan that I could budget for and I had a stable amount, it suited me better,” she said.

Don’t misunderstand me. I get why Boonstra would have preferred her earlier arrangement. And the last thing a critically ill patient needs is more stress. But what’s stopping Boonstra from budgeting now? Especially when most medical providers allow patients to set up a payment plan.

Kelly must have been too busy thinking of how to prod Boonstra to attack Obama to ask. Kelly’s next question? “What about your claim in the ad that you feel lied to? That you liked your plan and you believed the president when he said you could keep it?”

Later, Kelly did get around to the problems in Boonstra’s story. But they were presented as a matter of debate. Kelly “asked,” “You know, you heard Robert and the Washington Post suggest that the ad, your claims are misleading because you… got Blue Cross Blue Shield, you get to keep your doctor, you’ve got an annual cap on your out-of-pocket expenses which you didn’t have before and so they argue you’re better off.”

Boonstra insisted otherwise. Her argument seemed to amount to: she took the plan because her specialist was in it but it’s not saving her money so it’s not helping her.

But Kelly was there to help burnish the message! Kelly said sympathetically, “The uncertainty of knowing when the next big bill is coming, in other words will make it – certainly year one in the policy – tough.”

Predictably, Boonstra agreed.

Fox News: where facts are always spinnable to benefit Republicans and their BFFs.

Showing 3 reactions

But Kelly was there to help burnish the message! Kelly said sympathetically, “The uncertainty of knowing when the next big bill is coming, in other words will make it – certainly year one in the policy – tough.”
Was Kelly born yesterday?
The very reason that Pres. Obama put forth the ACA was because people were going bankrupt and losing everything because the Insurance marketplaces were putting profit above patient’s well being.
Is she really trying to pretend that Insurance Companies just now started to gouge there customers and that is due to the ACA?
She must not have been covered under any Insurance plans until very recently!
Costs have been going up, while coverage has been going down. They’ve been shifting the costs to us as far back as, I’d say, 98’.
Kelly is blaming the wrong people for Insurance costs.
The Insurance, all of it, is through PRIVATE insurance companies.
It’s not Gov. insurance.
The ACA is a LAW set up to make sure Insurance companies will deal with there customers fairly. Some Ins. carriers are still fighting to gouge there customers till there last breath.
Unfortunately Ms. Boonstra is one of those still being victimized by her Insurance carrier and being misled about who is doing it to her by charlatans like Megyn Kelly.